Not just for the birds
"Range after range of mountains. Year after year after year. I am still in love." - Gary Snyder Spring break this year, we drove across the West and past many, many mountain ranges in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Montana. I didn't dare sleep in the car or stare at my phone while being a …
I almost didn't go on a blind date with him but I ended up meeting him anyway and it was because of a bird dog. That was 18 years ago this month. Before agreeing to meet him in person for the first time, I saw a photograph of him kneeling next to his 6-month-old puppy. …
We're hunkered down again today. It was a blizzard this morning when we woke up. Bob and I really wanted to know the wind chill but our weather station anemometer stopped spinning due it to being caked with snow and ice from the cold winds. I'm not complaining one bit about the snow drift that …
I almost didn't go hunting on the last day of the season. I woke up tired. The day before, I'd gone out with the dogs for my fifth hunt in seven days. Overwhelmed by the dread of the looming last day and already missing it, I wanted to take advantage of the unusually pleasant weather …
The inevitable is here. Yesterday, was my last hunt with Bob for the season. It was also Bob's last hunt. We'd hoped he'd last until the end of the month but tomorrow he's undergoing spinal surgery. Our life for the past three months has revolved around his spine. Yes, our life. It's not that it's …
Yesterday, we carefully sneaked out of the house to head down to the canyon with just Peat, leaving Angus behind. The old warrior Angus has been running lots of miles hunting the past couple of weeks and against his will we forced him to take the day off. We knew getting ready to go wouldn't …
"What's in a name? That we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."Â --William Shakespeare I've never called myself an upland hunter. I don't know why, but maybe it's too broad of a term. I don't hunt quail or pheasant, and don't usually go out of my way to hunt ruffed …
Our home in the country, Salubrious Basecamp as we affectionately call it, has seen a flurry of adventurous friends and family, hunters and non-hunters, visiting us the past couple of months, each of them wanting a chance to see what all the chukar hunting fuss is all about. We love that our visitors will take …
If you've never been to Hells Canyon on the Idaho/Oregon border before, the first thing you notice as you're driving down the long, narrow, windy road of Highway 71 and descending deep into the canyon are the very steep hillsides covered in sagebrush, bitterbrush, golden-colored grasses and lots of rocks. Some people say, "It's no …
"The lunar landscapes above and below the conifer forests that necklace western mountains, the "chukar hotels" (rock outcroppings used by birds), and the overwhelming panorama that negates any notion of supremacy man might harbor is witnessed only by a small percentage of hunters. Climbing defines hunting in the West. There was elation when, after a …